They Just Keep Turning Up
by stepitup
Summary: When children go missing, the last thing the Torchwood team of five expect is for the children to start showing up...and more.
1. They Just Keep Turning Up

_**Another Child Missing **___

_ Addison Evans, aged 9, has been taken from her family home in Cardiff. Police suspect the parents as there was no one else home at the time of the disappearance. Mother, Georgia Evans tells police, 'Addison was going to the kitchen to get a glass of water and Will (her father) and I were watching the telly. We heard a glass shattering on the floor and called out to her to see if she was okay and when there was no reply, I ran into the kitchen and she was gone, glass shattered all over the floor.' Addison is now the nineteenth child abducted from somewhere where people should have been watching her and police are finding it difficult not to suspect the parents or family members. Read more about the disappearances on page 15._

_ If anyone has any information on Addison's whereabouts, please contact police._

_ See anything strange, hear anything strange, please report._

"Do you think it –" Ianto stopped short, distracted by Jack. "Oh my god." Jack was leaning over Ianto, trailing kisses over his collarbone.

"Want me to stop?" Jack smirked, but didn't stop kissing his collarbone.

"Jack. We can't do this every morning." The protest was weak and Ianto knew that, so he simply closed his eyes and enjoyed what was to come…only to be disturbed by the ringing of the phone.

"Saved by the bell, Jones, you got lucky."

"Lucky? I would not call this 'getting lucky'." Ianto Jones looked spitefully at the telephone in which Jack was reaching for.

"Jack Harkness." It was never a simple 'hello' with Jack.

"Hold on." Jack looked at Ianto. "Ready to go?"

"I guess so. Let me grab some coffee." Jack nodded and returned to the phone call.

"See you soon, Gwen." Jack put his phone in his pocket, walked to the bedroom and grabbed his coat.

Ianto looked at Jack while he put his jacket on. _So beautiful_. Ianto had always thought Jack was beautiful, but now that he was _his_, Ianto couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful.

"What are you staring at?" Jack was never one to fend off attention and was certainly not now. He was simply teasing Ianto.

"You." The one-word answer made Jack smile.

"Is that so?" Jack smirked, teasing Ianto with the one-corner smile that he knew he liked.

"Yes sir. Shame we have to leave?"

"Oh yeah, but don't you worry, we'll pick this up right where we left off when we get home, gorgeous."

"Gorgeous?" Ianto asked.

"Yes, my love?" Innocently answered was the question.

"Funny." Ianto smiled, laughing at his boyfriend. "Got everything, idiot?" Jack nodded with a cheeky grin on his face. "Okay, let's go." He turned around to leave the house only to be stopped by Jack's voice.

"Forgetting something, Ianto?" Ianto turned around and saw the car keys in Jack's hand.

"Oh. Right." He caught the keys as Jack threw them and _then_ walked out the door, closing it behind him and got in the car.

"I wish you'd stop flirting with everyone, Jack." They were about half way through their drive to the Torchwood hub.

"What? Who have I flirted with today that displeases you, my love?" Jack was a bit taken back by the statement Ianto made. It was, after all, only nine o'clock in the morning and apparently Jack was flirting with everyone.

"No one, it's just…" Ianto seemed lost for words. "Never mind."

Jack pulled the car over onto the side of the road and cupped Ianto's cheek in his hand. "What's going on?" Jack's eyes were pleading and Ianto simply had to tell him what was wrong.

"It's just…you. You're always flirting with people. Sure, you flirt with me, but you flirt with everyone just for the hell of it. I mean, your goddamn name is a flirtatious comment!" Jack smiled, and even Ianto permitted a small smile. "I sometimes think you get your thrill in the chase and now that you've caught me, you'll be bored any second now. I'm not worth flirting with because you've got me and you're going to get rid of me."

"Ianto…" Jack was at a loss for words. _How could he think that?_

"You're immortal, Jack. You'll stay this young forever and when I age, you won't want me anymore. I'll be too old, too…wrong for you. You'll want someone younger, someone prettier." _Now_ Jack knew why Ianto had been acting so off lately.

"Ianto, you have to believe that I would never, _ever_ trade you in for anyone else. I get why you think that, but honestly, I love you too much to even consider leaving you for someone younger and prettier." Jack ran his thumb over Ianto's cheekbone. "The mere thought that I would ever live a life without you is something that belongs in horror stories. Torchwood would fall apart without you. _I_ would fall apart without you. Do you understand?" Jack was simply begging Ianto to believe him.

"Yes." It was said as a whisper, a whisper that Jack wouldn't have heard, had he not been watching, reading Ianto's expressions. "But do you really think there's someone prettier than me?" Ianto was all innocence on the top, less so underneath.

Jack chuckled and started to drive away. "God no. You're definitely the most attractive person I've ever met." He winked at Ianto. "And I've met a lot of people."

"Owen is going to kill us for being late." Ianto was smiling at the thought.

"How odd. Owen being mad as opposed to…what? Owen being mad?" Ianto laughed.

Upon arriving at torchwood, Gwen and Owen were waiting outside for them, looking slightly displeased at their tardiness.

"What have got?" Jack put an arm around Ianto and Gwen smiled a 'hello' at them.

"Well," Gwen began in her adorable Welsh accent. "Have either of you been reading about those children going missing?"

"Yeah. I have." Ianto answered, having just read another article about the disappearances that morning. "Isn't there something ridiculous like _nineteen _children missing now?"

"Sort of." Gwen replied nodding. "Either way, it's getting totally out of hand."

"So, how does that involve us?" Jack asked. "However, if we're just chatting, can we go inside and meet Toshiko?"

"You're just cold, you big old baby. And I do mean old." Owen used any excuse he could to tease Jack.

"Maybe it is a good idea for us to go inside." Gwen looked at Owen, trying to chastise him telepathically. Not that it worked; Owen would learn one day. "Tosh can show you what we've found."

"Okay, show us what you've got." Jack was standing behind Toshiko, leaning over her much like he had with Ianto this morning. Obviously, it was minus the trail of kisses, and thank god for that.

"Alright. So this little boy, Jason Rigby," Tosh pointed to her computer screen which showed a picture of a little kid, short for his age of nine, with blond hair, blue eyes and a trail of freckles going across his nose and cheeks. "He showed up about an hour ago in the exact same place he disappeared from. The kitchen of his home." Ianto's eyebrows shot up and his mind was racing with possibilities. _That's what Gwen meant by 'sort of'. _Ianto thought.

"Are we sure it wasn't the parents? Are we sure this whole thing wasn't staged?" Ianto Jones, fighting aliens in his free time, but always coming up with always coming up with the most logical answers.

"Yeah. We've checked." Tosh brought up something else on the screen, graphs of some kind. "These graphs show large amounts of activity at the time Jason disappeared and again at the time he reappeared."

"Rift activity?" Jack thought it would be – it's the only plausible explanation. Ianto was having an impact on Jack, almost making him logical. Toshiko shook her head at Jack. _Lesson learnt_. Jack thought._ Never try to find plausible and logical explanations at torchwood. _

"We don't actually know what it is. All we know is that there was some kind of activity in both time frames."

"Guys!" Owen and Gwen were in another part of the hub, having already heard this. "You might want to see this." Jack, Ianto and Toshiko walked over to where Owen and Gwen were, only to find something even more shocking on the television.

"_After the appearance of Jason Rigby in his family home earlier today, three other children have turned up in their family homes too."_ The reporter on the television was saying. _"The disappearances were too similar, police say, but now the reappearances are even more suspicious. All children claim to have no memory of anything at all, rather that it's all just a completely empty timeframe. Some of the children did not even know they were missing. _

_One child, Addison Evans, turned up in the kitchen of her family home, wondering where her glass of water was. Police are very suspicious of the parents, but are now beginning to think there is something else at play."_ After a short break – the reporter conversing with her sources most likely – she resumed. _"After close inspection by doctors, each child who had gone missing has come back with no injuries and nothing suspicious of physical harm. However, there was a small black dot on the palm of each child's hands. Police say they will be looking into it and will share any and all information they have as soon as they get it."_

The reporter then rambled on about contacting and all that jazz, but the team at torchwood just looked at each other, stunned.

"They just keep turning up." Gwen was, understandably, baffled.

"Yes." Jack nodded. "And they'll keep on turning up. All nineteen."

He didn't know the half of it.


	2. Classified Retcon

After an infuriatingly long night –full of confusion, rift checks and another five reappearances – Jack and Ianto finally headed home for some well-deserved rest. Ianto was absolutely exhausted; they had spent all night looking for answers, yet, they had nothing to show for it.

The Torchwood team of five had run any and every check – human and alien – that they could think of. They – and 'they' meant Tosh (useless team of hackers the rest of Torchwood was, if there were any) – had hacked government computers, hospital computers and even UNIT computers and yet there was no information suggesting…well…anything.

"I don't know about you, but I am exhausted." Jack flopped onto the couch dramatically, his coat still on.

"I know you are, love. So am I, but you can't sleep on the couch." Jack nodded drowsily in agreement. "I'll make you a cup of tea, you just get up, shower and head to bed." Ianto was tired too, but he knew he had to take care of Jack. Jack Harkness would work himself straight into death before he slept properly. _Supposedly, _Ianto thought,_ dying over and over again is practically like sleeping…right?_

"Jack?" Ianto shook his head slowly in in dismay and looked at his boyfriend. Despite the fact that Ianto had offered tea, the most British thing ever – and God knew Jack liked the British – Jack had rolled onto his back, put his head down on the sofa, closed his eyes and was now snoring quite loudly. Ianto softly took off Jack's shoes, loosened his tie and draped a blanket over him. Ianto pushed back Jack's hair and kissed him on the forehead, before going to bed himself.

The sound of the ringing telephone woke Ianto with a start. Jack as well, apparently.

"Ianto! Pick up the bloody phone!" Jack rolled over on the couch, only to groan at the pain in his neck. _Ianto knew this would happen. _Jack scowled inwardly. _Why is Ianto _always_ right?_

"You get it, _sir!_ I'm sleeping!" Ianto was about as happy as a cat in water when he had only an hour and a half of sleep.

Eventually, though, Ianto caved as he so often did when Jack was involved; he seemed to know just about anything for the man, but he didn't mind.

"'Lo?" Ianto was drowsy and could barely form a sentence, let alone a greeting.

"Ianto? It's Tosh." It took a moment, but pretty soon, he remembered what was going on.

"Hey Tosh, what's new?" At the sound of Tosh's name, Jack sauntered into Ianto's room looking extremely dishevelled. _What's going on?_ Jack mouthed to Ianto. All he got in reply was a quick shrug of the shoulders before Toshiko started talking again.

"I cross referenced the kidnappings or abductions – whatever the hell we're calling them – to see if anything like this has happened before." Ianto had put Tosh on loud speaker so Jack could hear the conversation too.

"And...?" Jack prompted.

"And good morning to you too, sunshine." Regardless of the situation, Tosh still joked around with Jack.

"Oh sorry, gorgeous."

Ianto rolled his eyes at Jack. _For the love of God Jack …_ "Oh, sorry, don't let the possibility of a childless world stop your _flirting_. Please, continue." Ianto said sarcastically.

"Sorry." Tosh was back to business now. "It turns out something like this has happened before." Jack looked at Ianto, completely bewildered.

"When?" Ianto knew exactly what Jack was asking. _Was I around to remember?_

"1944." Tosh was quick to say it, _knowing_ Jack wouldn't like it. "I didn't have to search very far…" Tosh paused, clearly unsure whether she should go on.

"Just continue, Tosh." Jack was nervous, but incredibly curious.

"It was on Torchwood files. Heavily encrypted, but definitely there." There was a slight waver in Toshiko's voice, she was clearly nervous of the reaction Jack would have.

"1944, you said?"

"Yeah."

"Then why the hell don't I remember it?" Jack, after all, had been in Torchwood for a very, _very_ long time.

"Jack, I honestly don't know. It was heavily encrypted, so maybe it was classified?"

"That's bullshit and you know it. Tosh, I was head of Torchwood in 1944. I remember everything that happened that year. Aside from maybe a drunken night or two,' Jack said with a slight smirk. 'But _regardless_, that year was full of alien crap and rift activity."

_Some things never change._ Ianto thought. _Even Torchwood stays the same after so many years._

Jack was obviously furious. Whether or not he was angry about the fact that someone had classified information, or the fact that he, Captain Jack Harkness, did not know something. Ianto figured it was a bit of both.

"We'll be there as soon as we can." And with that Jack hung up.

The car ride there was almost completely silent. Jack huffed about in the passenger seat, clearly vying for attention, but every time Ianto asked if he wanted to talk about it, Jack just told him to drop it and sighed even louder.

Ianto followed a sulking Jack into the 'visitor's centre' all the way through to the Torchwood hub without looking back.

Owen looked up as Jack walked in, opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to think better. He closed his mouth and walked into the morgue to do…well…whatever it was he did with the alien corpses.

"Show us the files." Jack was still not in a good mood, but everyone was curious to open the file, so Tosh brought it up on the computer.

Ianto, who was next to Tosh was the first to see what was on the screen.

"You didn't tell us about _this_ on the phone." Ianto was kind of shocked, but the shock wore off in about 0.2 seconds; as it so often does when you work for Torchwood.

When Ianto managed to tear his eyes from the screen, he looked at Tosh who seemed to still be shocked.

"What the _hell_ is this?" Jack demanded.

"I…I don't know!" Tosh was stammering which was highly unusual, but understandable in the situation. "It wasn't there when I was talking to you, I swear. I continued digging until you got here, but I didn't realise I had done it all. The technology wasn't as advanced in 1944, I suppose."

"Sorry I'm late. Rhys was…well. He was Rhys. Long story. Anything new besides the whole – holy shit." Gwen was the last person to see what was going on, but when she did, she was shocked straight into silence. If the circumstances were less serious, all four other members of the Torchwood team would have revelled in the silence.

"Jack?" Ianto was calling out softly – almost whispering. He took hold of Jack's hand and squeezed it softly, just to let him know he was there.

"Jack…who is that?" Tosh was the first to ask the question on everyone's lips. On the screen was a still of a young, handsome man. He was tanned, with hazel eyes and light brown unruly curly hair.

"That's…" Jack seemed at a loss for words. "That's Jonathan. He worked for Torchwood, obviously, but he was good; really good. He would have led Torchwood if it weren't for me." Jack turned to look at Gwen. "He was like you, Gwen. He was the only person to have a relationship – even a kid – while working at Torchwood. The kid was –" Jack stopped abruptly and looked around at the rest of the team. "I don't know why I said that. I don't remember a kid. Never mind."

Ianto was suspicious of this. Jack's memory may have been fading, but not so much that he would forget the only other kid in the Torchwood world.

Before he could think too much about it, Gwen said, "Can we please watch the video? I'm dying of curiosity over here. Sorry." Ianto was dying of curiosity too, but he was glad Gwen said something instead of him.

"Ready?" Tosh looked at everyone but her eyes fell on Jack, really asking him the question.

"Let's just do it." Jack, too, looked around and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Okay." Tosh sort of breathed it out rather than actually saying it, and clicked the play button on the screen.

"_If you're watching this,"_ the man – Jonathan – said on the video. _"Then children have started going missing. Well, that or the Torchwood team is being uncharacteristically curious." _Jonathan laughed a small, tense laugh before he continued. _"The year is 1944 and it's the nineteenth of October. Three months ago, two children went missing within a day of each other. An eight year old boy named John Barrowman. The other child was a six year old girl, Adelina. _My_ little girl." _

At this, Owen and Gwen whipped their heads around so fast to look at Jack. Toshiko and Ianto turned their heads slowly, revelling in a whole new shock. No one said anything because they weren't sure how long Jonathan would stay quiet.

"_The disappearances were suspicious. Both children simply vanished from their homes without a trace. John vanished in the dead of night while everyone was sleeping, so his disappearance was almost a runaway, had it not been from the top of a three story lodging building. My little Adelina disappeared as soon as I turned my back. We were playing hide-and-go-seek. She turned around to count and just as I turned around to go hide, the counting stopped; it stopped just before she got to say 'fourteen'. I turned around so fast to see what had happened, but there, where she was standing two seconds ago, was nothing. _

"_I searched and searched for so long. The house, the neighbouring houses, the street, _everywhere_. She was _nowhere_." _Jonathan had tears streaming down his face, but there was no deterring from saying what he wanted to – what he _needed_ to.

"_John turned up nine days later in his bed – the same place he disappeared from. He seemed healthy. He got checked out by normal doctors, even the Torchwood doctors, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. No visible markings except a small black dot on the palm of his hand. My Adelina didn't turn up. I just thought – the whole Torchwood team thought – she'd show up too." _Jonathan was shaking his head in dismay.

"_Jack was so sure she'd show up. He was torn; absolutely and completely broken. With the disappearance of our daughter, my wife just couldn't handle it. She killed herself and the police made it seem like it was out of guilt. When really, it was because of a broken heart. I would have killed myself too, but then I would have been guilty in the police's eyes and no one would keep a look out for _her.

"_But, I think, I have so much left to see; so much left to do. Working for Torchwood is like nothing ever. You start out life thinking that there's black and white, but all of a sudden, there's a million colours in between and a million in-between those. There's so much to the universe that I have to see for my daughter. I promised her I would see everything I could, but if I die now, I can't. I can't do that to her too … I've lost her … the least I can do is _live _for her. _

"_I'm choosing a different way, albeit extreme. It is pretty clear my daughter won't reappear at all, no matter how hard I wish. Shooting stars aren't going to help me here. So, I'm using what resources I can." _Jonathan held up a small, round, silver device. It was about palm size with a glowing purple centre. It was clearly not of Earth origin, so Gwen turned around to look at Jack, who just shook his head, trying to convey to her that he didn't know what it was. Nobody said anything and Jonathan continued.

"_Jack, I know you're watching this because you're immortal and whatnot you stupid idiot." _Jack made his way closer to the computer screen, as if being as close as possible would bring Jonathan and Adelina back.

"_It's okay if you haven't found her yet. By the time you're watching this, it's probably a thousand years later or something. But you haven't bloody changed a bit, have you? I'm sorry about making you forget her, but I made myself forget her too. It was just too painful. I didn't know how exactly to use this darn alien device, but we worked it out together; you might remember now, you might not. Basically, it's a telepathic device. If I focus on the thing you want to forget and project it around the room. It basically only makes a person forget _one_ thing. Everyone forgets her. We all forget my little girl. You, Emma, Julia, Angelo, Michael and I. After we do this, the alien device will be archived and we won't even remember it. It'll be kept in the completely classified _Do-Not-Use_ area. As will this video._

"_Jack, you get to name everything in the in this place, so, since no one will remember, I'm naming this one. Basically, _classified retcon_." _Jonathan's eyes focussed completely on the camera, almost compelling Jack to listen. _"Jack, if more children are disappearing and reappearing, its bad news. But please, _please_, keep an eye out for my little girl. She is, after all, your god-daughter. I'm leaving her to you, in case you ever find her._

"_Keep a look out at my house – well, my old house now. Some young couple probably live there now. Oh God, I hope you find her." _There was a pause, and then Jonathan seemed to remember something. _"It just occurred to me that you may not remember where I lived. 331 Glower Street. Jack, thank you."_

The video shut off and the screen went black. Everyone was still in shock, but managed to turn around to simply stare at Ianto.

331 Glower Street was, after all, the private residence of Ianto Jones.


End file.
